LBUSD Board Votes to Close Hill Classical Middle School Long Beach

Long Beach — On Nov. 5, the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education unanimously voted to close Hill Classical Middle School in Long Beach.

The school is expected to be converted into a high school modeled after the California Academy of Mathematics and Science on the Cal State Dominguez Hills campus.

The district made the decision based on a facility master plan that calls for the development of several small high schools. The master plan also guides how the Measure K school bonds, which gave the district $1.2 billion from property taxes for school construction and maintenance, will be spent.

More than 700 students attend the middle school. Enrollment has dropped by more than 400 students during the past six years, which some blame on the sixth-grade enrollment cap during the 2012-13 school year.

The middle school will close with a few years. First by not admitting sixth graders, then phasing out seventh graders during the 2015-16 school year. At the same time, the school will begin accepting ninth graders. By the following school year, the school will not have any middle school students.